Information By: TOYOTA RACING – HOMESTEAD, FL – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chandler Smith was made available to the media on Friday after winning the pole position for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
CHANDLER SMITH, No. 81 QuickTie Products Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Can you take us through your pole-winning lap?
“Yeah, I mean honestly, I didn’t think it was that good of a lap. I even came on the radio after and was like, ‘Eh, I don’t know if it was really that great.’ And then my crew chief came on after, joking with me, and made the same noise and said, ‘Yeah, you’re P1.’ So I was like, ‘Oh, cool.’ I’ve had a few of those, even New Hampshire last year, I came over the radio and was like ‘Gosh, that was a horrible lap,’ and got the pole by like a tenth or something like that. I guess, bad-driving race cars or whatever it may be for me in qualifying has good tendencies to get some poles, so we’ll take them.”
How close are you focusing on points tomorrow being only eight points above the cutline? And do you like getting points updates during the race?
“I’d like to think that my situational awareness is pretty good. So, with that being said, I feel like I keep that in mind no matter what’s going on – how our weekend is going and what not. Do I like to have updates? Sure, every now and then, periodically, but I usually have a good sense of what’s going on.”